Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust

St. Thomas’ Hospital Children’s Nuclear Imaging Unit

Intro

The Nuclear Imaging unit at St Thomas’ is set up to investigate bladder and kidney functioning for children. We introduced a series of mixed media pieces in the both the clinical space and waiting area.

Imagery & moving images in the waiting area

As children and families wait, they are surrounded by paintings (produced in-house by Art in Site’s Martin Jones), along with a series of animations in the same style, viewable on a monitor.

“Looking up”

In the clinical space, children lie down on the imaging machine in order to have either their kidney or bladder functionality monitored. Scans can take anything from 20 minutes to an hour, during which time it is vital that children lie as still as possible. Unsparingly, this doesn’t come naturally.

Art in Site came up with an intervention that would distract children and help them to remain calm and still during their scans: “Looking up” is a looping film, which plays on a monitor overhead, featuring a series of long, meditative shots of sky-bound objects, such as kites, hot air balloons, and gliders. The effect is calming and soporific. Many children settle down as they watch this film, and some even fall to sleep briefly (an ideal outcome in this context).

Date

2009

Sector

Healthcare

Service

Children's Hospital, Nuclear Imaging

Commissioned by

Guy's & St Thomas' NHS Trust

Artist

Art in Site

Users

Child patients

Awards

Building Better Healthcare Awards 2010: Winner, Best use of Visual Art in Healthcare